


when it's good acting, you can't tell it's acting

by missive



Category: Persona 5
Genre: AkeShuake Secret Santa, Fake/Pretend Relationship, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-25
Updated: 2017-12-25
Packaged: 2019-02-17 07:06:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,022
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13071678
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/missive/pseuds/missive
Summary: (part of the AkeShuake Secret Santa ♡)Sometimes, you have to lie to your boss and tell them you're dating someone to convince them you have a life outside of work. Unfortunately, sometimes that boss insists you go to their little sister's Christmas Party to make sure you're not alone for the holidays, and to bring the person you're dating.





	when it's good acting, you can't tell it's acting

**Author's Note:**

  * For [emeraldpalace](https://archiveofourown.org/users/emeraldpalace/gifts).



> This is for [Neyan](https://twitter.com/nyaneyan) as part of the AkeShuake Secret Santa gift exchange !! I hope I made a "Fake Dating" fic you enjoy, it certainly was fun to write! ♡♡  
> And thank you to [Nae](https://twitter.com/mintchoconae), [Maru](https://twitter.com/marudyne), [Chrome](https://twitter.com/chromiekins), and [Aoba](https://twitter.com/Kuronuma_Aoba) for putting this together !! ♡♡

-The Situation-

A common mistake criminals make in explaining their alibis is making too complicated of a story; telling too many lies. It gets to the point where they can’t keep their story straight and eventually they give themselves away, unable to keep all their details together, unable to remember all the lies they’ve told.

Goro Akechi isn’t a criminal.

He’s a college student, who maybe works too much when considering his class load and his internship at SIU. Not a criminal.

However, he unfortunately had found himself in a situation where he had made a complicated story, and it was going to be his undoing. It really wasn’t criminal.

He’d just wanted his boss to stop worrying about his personal life. In her own way, of course, given that Sae Nijima wasn’t one to directly express her concern. At first, it’d been a little offensive, really, the way she had pointedly asked him why he never seemed to do _anything_ that wasn’t work related. Over time her comments had become less sharp, and it was clear that in some way she _did_ care. Not exactly motherly, maybe like an older sister.

Which made sense, given she had a little sister. A little sister who was Goro’s age, who was throwing a Christmas party, one which (because of Sae insisting he couldn’t spend holidays _alone_ ) he was required to show up to.

He was also required to bring his nonexistent significant other.

The one who _did_ exist to Sae because Goro had just wanted to reassure her he didn’t only focus on work (he did only focus on work). He wasn’t used to having someone fuss over him, even if Sae’s “fussing” wasn’t really that intense, or even that much. So there was the lie, to make him feel less guilty about how much she worried about his nonexistent social life.

More than that, he’d made the obvious mistake of giving too many details. Which, until this moment, had been great since it had been more convincing. Now, it was awful, since it would be harder to come up with a _decent_ reason why he couldn’t bring his partner to the Christmas party.

There was the obvious out of saying they broke up...but then he would either have to do two things. Explain why he was so indifferent and lacking emotional distress over the situation (especially when it was a Christmas break-up) _or_ pretend to be incredibly upset and have to deal with Sae’s concern even more which was exactly what he had been trying to avoid by pretending to be happily dating someone.

This left him one horrifying, embarrassing, never-going-to-live-down-no-matter-how-it-turns-out option.

-Putting the Team Together-

The person he’d been pretending to be dating had been based on a real person - _that’s_ how he kept his details straight. They weren’t entirely lies, they were things he knew about _someone_. A someone he wasn’t dating, and a someone he wasn’t even technically friends with. All the details he’d “made-up” about his partner, had in fact, been facts about the quiet yet friendly barista who happened to make his favorite cup of coffee: Akira Kurusu.

They weren’t strangers. Goro needed coffee regularly enough that he’d become a regular at the small coffee shop LeBlanc, visiting both when he had breaks from his work at SIU and when he needed a quiet place to get some studying done. Somewhere in those visits they’d had a handful of conversations. Not enough for Goro to consider Akira a friend (and he doubted the barista felt that way about him), but he was easy to talk to. Somehow, he seemed much less judgmental than the people Goro was used to dealing with.

Either way, he was back at LeBlanc now, fidgeting a coffee cup between his hands as he sat in his usual place at the counter.

“You seem restless today,” Akira commented, and Goro averts his eyes.

“I...seem to have gotten myself into a rather...difficult situation,” he replies. Akira makes a sound of interest.

“If there’s anything I can do to help, let me know,” Akira says, and he’s smiling (or maybe it’s a smirk, sometimes it’s hard to read his expressions). This is Goro’s chance to finish his coffee, leave, and simply deal with the fallout of a fake break-up.

He’s done TV interviews before, he’s good at playing up confidence, he can get away with this.

“Actually…” he starts, and finally brings his gaze back to Akira. “I may have, told my superior I was dating someone when I’m not...but now she expects me to bring them to her younger sister’s Christmas party.”

After that, the look on Akira’s face is probably the most Goro’s ever seen him react to something he’s said. Which is probably fair, because it’s not like he doesn’t recognize how incredibly ridiculous this is. This was a horrible idea from the start.

“That’s-”  
Goro cuts him off, because otherwise there’s no way he’d be able to actually ask the question he needs to get to.  
“And I don’t have many people that come to mind who _might_ be willing to help me, so I thought, I might as well ask if you’d be willing to pretend to date me just for one party?” For what it’s worth, Goro has managed to hold eye contact with Akira through this. Even if Akira says no and rejects the arguably horrible idea, he hopes he’s still allowed to return to LeBlanc after this. The silence holds a little longer.

“You want me...to pretend to be your boyfriend for a party?”

Goro nods.

“Didn’t you tell your boss you had a girlfriend?”

“I don’t think I ever specified,” Goro says, then quickly follows-up, “I know it’s ridiculous, so really it’s fine if you don’t-”  
“No, this sounds amazing,” and it actually seems like Akira is genuinely enthusiastic (for what reason, Goro isn’t sure he wants to know), “Of course I would be honored to be your date for the party, Detective Prince.”

Now _that_ is definitely a smirk on Akira’s face.

-Assessing the Target-

Akira convinces Goro to stay until his shift ends to explain everything to him, and Goro has to agree. He can’t figure out why Akira agreed so easily, but it is one less thing to worry about. And roughly, one hundred new things to worry about. As someone who is used to planning everything out, calculating every gesture, every word to be best received, Goro hadn’t ever imagined himself in this situation. Well, probably even people who _don’t_ do those things or worry so much about appearances don’t expect to have to pretend to date someone for a Christmas party.

Once it’s time for LeBlanc to close (and it’s not the first time Goro’s stayed until closing) Akira gestures for Goro to follow him upstairs. This is unexpected. Though, it’s quickly explained when the room they walk into is clearly well-lived and well...there’s something about the atmosphere that reminds him of the barista.

“You...live here?” he questions, and then wants to backtrack - hoping it didn’t come out sounding accusatory or harsh.

“Yup,” Akira replies, nonchalantly, and seemingly unbothered. “I told you about how the owner of LeBlanc is like family to me. And it’s not so bad, living where I work.” Goro nods. “From what you’ve told me, it sounds like you live at work too.”

This gets a stuttered noise of surprise out of Goro, and he stiffens at first, but Akira’s expression - while teasing - isn’t mean-spirited. So he lets out a sigh.

“I suppose…” he lets out a small laugh. With everything he had told Akira, while not much, it probably did seem like all he did was work. Which...well, it was a little depressing to admit that he essentially did live at work. After all, nothing but work had got him into this situation, where he had to ask the barista from his favorite cafe to pretend to date him because he didn’t know enough other people (and certainly didn’t spend enough time outside of work or studying to date anyone).

“You can sit down by the way,” Akira gestures to the couch, and Goro takes a seat to be polite. It’s a little alarming, really, to realize how little time he spends with people outside of formal situations.

Maybe Sae has had a point all along.

Akira joins him on the couch, and looks at him expectantly. Right. They have to come up with some kind of plan.

“Alright,” Goro starts, patting his hands on his lap, and reasurres himself that there’s nothing to be nervous about at this point. He’ll be able to keep Sae unconcerned about his social life, and Akira already agreed to this. “It shouldn’t be too hard. Just show up to this party, pretend to be a couple...convince my boss.”

Akira frowns, and then it looks like he’s putting serious thought into something.

“I need to know more about your boss.”

Goro gives a confused look. “Why?”

“If we’re going to do this, we can’t half-ass it. We have to go all in, make it really convincing. Otherwise she might catch on, right? I mean, I have to assume you’ve been meaning a boss from the SIU.”

“Uh, yes,” Goro says, trying to process this. If it had been surprising that Akira had agreed to this plan, it was even more surprising he was taking it so seriously. Though...he was also the type to occasionally tease Goro, harmlessly, but that could be what this was. The silence lasts another moment.

“So, what’s your bosses’ name? What will it take to convince her? I have to understand our target so I can act appropriately as your boyfriend.” This is too much.

“Target?” he replies, avoiding thinking about _other_ questionable things said. Akira grins.

“I mean, it’s like pulling off a caper. We have to get through one night, convince someone of a falsehood-”

“You’re making this sound so dramatic,” Goro rolls his eyes, barely stifling a laugh.

“Might as well have fun with it,” Akira shrugs, “It’ll take the tension out.”

Goro can’t help but smile a bit at that. He hadn’t thought of this as being fun given it was an impractical, seemingly impossible situation to have gotten himself into. But...if this was his plan, then maybe, having a little fun wouldn’t be so bad.

It certainly was, refreshing, to laugh with someone else like this.

“I...suppose,” he relents. “I guess we do have to work together for this to succeed, and I can’t keep details from you.”  Suddenly there’s a _mrow_ from his feet, and then a black and white cat is jumping into his lap.

“Oh, I was wondering where Morgana had gotten to,” Akira says, and leans forward, “Hopefully you don’t mind cats…” Morgana is already pressing his head into Goro’s hand, demanding attention, and well, Goro can’t say no to giving in and petting the cat. He smiles at Akira.

“It’s fine,” he replies, and there’s something strangely natural about this. A not-quite deja vu feeling that sitting with Akira and being kept warm by a snuggling cat is a welcome situation. “Uh, anyways, my boss is Sae Nijima-”

“Nijima,” Akira stops him, “...Is her sister that’s throwing the party Makoto Nijima?” For a second Goro stops petting Morgana, confused, until an annoyed meow forces him to resume that action.

“I...yes,” and now he’s giving Akira a questioning stare.

“Oh my gosh,” Akira leans his head back, and then is half covering the bottom of his face with his hand. It’s not long before he’s laughing.

“What- what’s so funny?” There is definitely something he’s missing. It takes Akira a moment to collect himself before responding.

“Well, it turns out,” Akira is smiling, _too_ widely, “I’m going to the same Christmas party already.” The color drains from Goro’s face.

“Wait...you know Makoto.”

“Yes.”

“How?”

“From high school,” Akira shrugs, “Don’t worry, I know, I don’t seem like the type to befriend the “Student Council President” but well. We’re a strange group of friends.” He pauses. “You’ll fit right in.” This seems odd, it’s not like this is a lasting arrangement, and actually, if Akira knows Makoto, Sae probably knows him too...

Goro lets out a sigh of defeat.  
  
“So this isn’t going to work,” he says. If Sae knows Akira, even through Makoto, their plan is already ruined.

“It still could work,” Akira says, “After all, you seem like the type who would want to keep your life as private as possible, especially since you have fangirls from being the “Detective Prince”. And, I, being a kind and gracious boyfriend who respects your boundaries have been perfectly happy keeping it a secret that we’re dating.”

Goro makes a small hm, and isn’t sure whether or not he should be a little offended that Akira is accusing him of being so secretive. He’s not wrong, and maybe that’s why the assumption is aggravating.

“I suppose...but, you wouldn’t have told your friends about dating someone?”

“I was keeping it as private as possible for you,” Akira shrugs, “And well, they’re used to me surprising them with hidden talents, or in this case, a hidden double life of dating a charming detective. I’m good at being surprising.” There’s a strange smile on his face now, not a grin, not a smirk - one that suggests maybe he hides things about himself from people too, the same way Goro does. Or, it’s getting late, this is a stressful situation, and Goro is reading too much into it.

“Then...I guess this will be the big reveal,” he sighs again. Everything keeps getting more out of hand. There’s no way this will work, Goro is beginning to think, but even if it fails it will fail spectacularly.

“ _Oh_ , well _that_ is certainly something I am all about, so at the very least, making a grand reveal of my love life will be something believable.”

Goro lets out a laugh at that, shaking his head. He’s probably learned more about Akira in the past few minutes than he has from all their conversations combined.

“Okay, well, then I guess we should be set. Just show up to the party together, announce we’re dating, and then, hope for the best?” Akira shakes his head, and makes a tsking noise.

“What did I tell you? We have to go all in,” he sits up straighter, “You got yourself into this, but I’m going to help you get out, in the _best_ way. We have to make this believable, I don’t know Sae very well, but I know she has a keen eye so we have to act like a _real_ couple. We have about a week before the party, so we’ll use that time to go on dates and get to know each other, and become comfortable enough to act like a real couple. We’ll get to the party, it’ll go great. And then, we’ll have an incredibly dramatic break-up, you can feed lines to Sae about why you can’t stand me, I can feed lines to all my friends, but especially Makoto, and then, you’re in the clear.”

Goro is left in a stunned silence after that speech. From his perch on Goro’s lap, Morgana seems to have perked up, and lets out an enthusiastic meow, almost like he’s agreeing with his owner. It does sound like they would actually be pulling something off.

“That’s...quite a lot of thought for this,” he finally says, voice a little weak.

“Like I said, gotta have some fun with this.”

“We’re going to go on dates?” he asks, not quite understanding the full logic of what Akira has proposed.

“Keep up Detective Prince,” Akira grins, “Who is going to believe we’re dating if we aren’t casual around each other?”

He...can’t argue with that, as much as he wants to.

“Fine...fine, I,” he stops, he’s the one who dragged Akira into this. He should be thankful Akira is so enthusiastic, and willing to go so far for him. “I think that’s a good plan.” Akira seems satisfied at that praise. “Alright, well, then I guess I’ll come back for a, ‘date’ soon.”

“Let’s exchange numbers, I can text you when I’m free, or where to meet me.” They trade phones, and then Goro is getting ready to leave, and apologizing to Morgana as he tries to politely remove him from his lap.

“Thank you for helping with this,” Goro says, before leaving, “I am, really grateful and sorry to have dragged you into this.”

“It’s not a problem. I think it’ll be fun.” Akira does seem to be enjoying this almost a little _too_ much.

“Right,” Goro shakes his head, but has to ask one thing before he leaves. “If I can ask...why did you agree to help me with this?” Akira looks surprised, confused as to why Goro would ask that, and then there’s a small smile on his face. More genuine, not teasing.

“Because we’re friends, and you always help a friend in need.”

-Knowing Your Team-

For their first ‘date’ (Akira insists on using that word to ‘set the mood’) they meet up at a small diner, not LeBlanc.

“It’s not a date if it’s at either of our jobs,” Akira says when questioned, stating it like it’s the most obvious thing. Goro has to go along with it. He’d be happy enough to spend more time at LeBlanc. That probably wouldn’t be as awkward as...this. Or maybe it’s just awkward for Goro because Akira seems perfectly relaxed. Like he always does.

“That’s true,” he concedes, trying to sink back enough in the booth to be ‘relaxed’. It’s not like he could ever imagine taking someone to work for a date, though study dates are probably a thing for some people.

“So why were you pretending to date someone for your boss?”

And he’s sitting up straight up again, the bluntness of the question shooing away any relaxation. From Akira, however, he’s gotten used to blunt questions.

What’s really strange is how many times at LeBlanc he’d answered those questions honestly.

“I...she worries about me from time to time, and thinks I don’t get out enough,” he says, already resigned to owing Akira an answer for anything about their fake relationship. “Or that I’m going to get lonely.”

“Are you?”

Akira is looking at him not with pity but with...something that makes it hard to form words. A look that’s searching for something (a reflection maybe, though how or why it would be that Goro can’t say).

“...sometimes,” he answers, honestly.

Akira looks away, but gives a little nod.

“Me too, sometimes.”

Goro bites his tongue. Akira has talked about his friends before, in their casual conversations. He’s told him about his day, about things he’s done outside of LeBlanc. Somehow, it had been hard for Goro to imagine _him_ ever being lonely. Somehow, see how it makes sense.

For someone who is used to loneliness, has accepted it, the thought of Akira feeling that way doesn’t sit well with him.

“You know, we could always hang out more like this after the party too,” Akira says, now grinning.

The usual response of not having enough time for anything (friends included, attachments included) jumps into his mouth but Goro silences it. Spending more time with Akira, who is, and has apparently been a friend, doesn’t seem like a bad idea.

“That’s true,” he smiles back.

-*-

Next is a movie date. Akira texts him the time and place, and Goro shows up. He hadn’t been told what movie they’d been seeing, but it turns out to be a run of the mill superhero flick.

It’s a little hard to hide his excitement, given that one of his guilty pleasures is exactly this kind of movie.

“I wasn’t sure at first if this would be a good choice,” Akira comments as they sit down, and Goro shrugs.

“It’s not a real date so,” he waves his hand.

“We can still enjoy it,” Akira nudges him, “Anyways, I figured, maybe you would actually like superhero movies, since you seem to have worked pretty hard to make that Detective Prince image for yourself.”

Goro lets out a half-hearted chuckle, but catches the way Akira mentions that he worked hard. That’s not something people usually say about him. Most just say it comes naturally to him, that he’s _lucky_ , when it was hard work. All the time.

Having that acknowledged is...nice.

“I don’t have a lot of time for movies, but I think I’ll like this one,” he says. The smile Akira gives him makes it seem like he’s sensing Goro’s hidden enthusiasm.

The movie hasn’t been running long before Goro’s leaning over to make a comment. To his delight, Akira doesn’t seem mind. Eventually, Akira is even leaning over to whisper just as much as he is - to the point where for the most of the movie they end up practically huddled together, whispering like they’d been going to movies since they were childhood kids and know exactly what to say to make the other laugh.

They might have earned the scorn of quite a few of the other moviegoers, but at the end, it’s been another fun day.

“Well, it’ll be a while before it’s out but now we have to go see the sequel together,” Akira says as they leave. Goro nods.

“Definitely.”

-*-

Finally, Akira invites him back to LeBlanc, but more specifically to his above-the-cafe apartment.

“I thought you said no dates at work?” Goro asks, as soon as he’s settled on the couch.

“This is my apartment, not the cafe, so it doesn’t count.”

“If you say so…” he looks around, “So...what kind of “date” is this?”

Akira stretches, and then falls back onto the couch next to Goro, slumping over enough that their shoulders are bumping. They’ve only started spending time with each other outside of barista-customer interactions, and yet being so comfortable together has become natural. Maybe it’s because there’d been so many conversations downstairs, in a quiet cafe.

“You need to learn how to spend a day being lazy. And couples have lazy days together all the time,” Akira says, “So no work today for you. At all.”

“I thought you told me to leave any work at home because this wouldn’t be a long date,” Goro replies, narrowing his eyes just slightly, trying to be annoyed but ultimately unable to muster it up. The idea of a whole day doing nothing is almost too foreign.

“Ouch. Don’t you want to spend time with your loving _boyfriend_ ? Who just wants you to take a break? For your _health_?”

Goro holds back a snort of laughter, and rolls his eyes, giving Akira a light shove. Akira turns on the TV, and settles back in, more obviously leaning in and snuggling next to him. It’s probably because the room has a slight chill to it, Goro thinks, since the space heater can only do so much. So he doesn’t feel bad doing the same, pressing himself against Akira and tilting his head to rest on his.

At some point he might fall asleep, woken up when Akira announces he’s going to make them curry.

Somehow, they manage to spend a day doing nothing. Between video games, TV shows or rented DVDS, acquiescing to any demands Morgana makes for attention, and Akira arguing the benefits of addictive phone apps it’s one of the first days where Goro feels like he truly hasn’t gotten a single thing done.

Other than enjoyed himself. Which, might be something he should work on.

Okay, it’s definitely something he has to work on. His refusal to make time for other people, or himself, is what made Goro make up a fake boyfriend in the first place. To make it seem like he had a life outside of work.

These might have been a bunch of pretend dates but...it feels like the friendship Akira is showing him is real. And Goro isn’t sure he wants to stop finding ways to _make_ free time to spend with a friend. To spend with Akira. For more than just coffee.

It’s getting late enough that he should head home. He’s about to say something when Akira makes a face like he just remembered something and stands up to retrieve something. When he walks back over to Goro with his hands behind his back and a wicked smile on his face, Goro prepares for the worst.

“I thought of something else,” Akira says.

“Clearly,” Goro replies. With a flourish Akira pulls out a sprig of mistletoe from behind his back. In an equally dramatic fashion Goro throws his head back and shakes his head. “No.”

“I happen to know for a fact my friends are planning on there being plenty of mistletoe, and we should get it out of the way now and not blow our cover when it’s hopelessly awkward and obvious we’ve never kissed before.”

Damn Akira and his good, if convoluted, points. He stands up and crosses his arm.

“Fine.” He gives in too easily to everything Akira has suggested. It’s not just because Akira is the one trying to help him, though Goro still tries to convince himself it is.

“You could be a little more enthused,” Akira teases, and Goro decides to shut him up. With a smirk he reaches forward, cupping the side of Akira’s face and pulling him in for a quick kiss.

It’s not so bad.

“Enthusiastic enough?”

Akira fakes actually considering it.

“It’ll have to do. I think we’re ready for the party.” They share a nod.

Goro had been dreading going to this party, but in this moment, he couldn’t deny feeling a little excited.

-Costumes-

“So for what we’re wearing-”

“We’re just dressing normal,” Goro puts his foot down, immediately.

“Aw, it’s a holiday party, we could have costumes…”

“That’d be weird.”

“I could be Santa, you could be a reindeer.”

“That’d be _horrible_.”

“At least matching ugly sweaters? We _are_ a couple after all, and that’s the kind of thing grossly in love couples do.”

“Well, we’re not that kind of couple.”

“ _I_ think we’re that kind of couple.”

Goro’s eyes narrow into a pointed glare at Akira. He’s getting a grin in return. The worst thing is, this teasing actually puts a crack in his facade, and against his will a laugh comes out.

“No, no ugly sweaters.”

“Come on-”

“We’ll both wear suits. We can have different color suits with matching accent colors.

“Ohh fancy.”

Goro reaches over and lightly smacks Akira’s arm, followed by a laugh from both of them.

-Infiltration-

They show up to the party in matching suits: Akira’s black with red accents, Goro’s white with red accents. As strange as it is to admit, they make a flashing couple.

Certainly flashing enough to catch everyone’s attention (it is a small party). There is an initial rush of everyone crowding them, mostly demanding that Akira explain how he never told them he was dating the Detective Prince.

“I had to keep it private, for him,” Akira handles the attention easily, throwing a wink to Goro. If there’s a light flush to Goro’s cheeks as he rolls his eyes, well, it’s not so bad. It lends credence to their relationship status. Sae, the cause of their fake relationship, seems surprised at first, but as they talk she ends up smiling at him with a knowing look. One that seems to suggest she believes their relationship.

Goro feels a little guilt in that. They might’ve taken this too far.

“I think he’s probably good for you,” Sae says, in a moment when Akira is surrounded by the others, clearly more a part of this friend group than Goro is. His eyes are on Akira only. “You should take more breaks to spend time with him, clearly you’d rather be by his side.” At this Goro turns, a little apologetic he hadn’t fully been paying attention.

“Ah, well, he understands-”

“For your sake too, Goro,” and there’s the almost caring tone of voice, the concern is there, but it’s still a tough tone. Unlike before, he’s beginning to see it as a bit more welcome. A little more time for himself might not be so bad.

Spending time with someone else, probably something he should do more often. What a strange way it’s been to learn that lesson.

When he finds his way back over to Akira’s side it’s almost too natural the way Akira slips his arm around him, and works him into the conversation. It’s not as bad as he thought it would be.

Until the mistletoe is held over their heads, and everyone begins chanting for them to kiss and well-

So Akira’s prediction had come true, and the practice had been a good idea. The kiss isn’t so bad either. They’re smiling into it at least, until Goro starts laughing at the way everyone is cheering, and Akira joins in, forcing them to pull apart, but when their eyes meet it almost feels real. Almost almost almost.

Maybe they’re both  incredibly good liars.

-Escape Route-

Unexpectedly, it had been a fun night. Akira had made it fun. To keep up the appearance of dating, naturally they left the party together, but they didn’t part ways. Goro followed Akira back to LeBlanc for the promise of coffee and...to end this.

Thinking about that settled something heavy in his stomach. He didn’t want to dwell on it.

The week of ‘dates’ had been enjoyable, or maybe it had just been nice to actually spend time with someone else. Someone who enjoyed time with _him,_ not any of the public personas he put on. That worry was ridiculous though, just because they stopped ‘fake dating’ it didn’t mean he wouldn’t ever see Akira again. He’d still come to LeBlanc. They’d even talked about continuing to hang out outside of work.

“So,” Akira says, breaking him out of his thoughts. He’s grinning. “That was fun.” Goro smiles back.

“It certainly was.”

“Bet you didn’t expect the night to go so well?”

  
“I did _not_ ,” Goro lets out a laugh. That’s an understatement. The fact this worked at all is nothing short of a miracle. It feels too good to be true. A stupid lie, a stupid story, and a stupid plan and...it went perfect. And it was _fun_. His face sombers a little, but a smile is still there. “Thank you, Akira. You didn’t have to do this for me but…”

“It was my pleasure,” Akira replies, giving a ridiculous flourish and slight bow, but Goro can recognize the sincerity in his voice. They’re not teasing each other.

He’s not sure what to say now.

“I guess, this is where we break up though, huh?” Akira says, and the weight is back in Goro’s stomach. He nods.

“I mean, we can just...stop pretending.” They’re silent for a moment.

“We’ve done so good at pretending so far, don’t you think we should act out the final scene?” Akira is teasing him, but something seems...of. Restrained, maybe. “Give a reason to break up with me, and then, I’ll give one to you. We can make it dramatic. And then later you can complain to Sae and I can complain to...everyone else.” Goro crosses his arms.

He can’t think of a reason to break up with Akira. If they were actually dating, he wouldn’t break up with him. That’s a weird thought.

“Um, you...I don’t have time for you.”

“...I think that’s a reason I’d break up with you,” Akira says, giving a slightly confused smile.

“...We’re just not working out?”

“This is probably the calmest break-up I’ve ever been part of.”

“Okay, well, now you’re just being mean,” Goro says, then waves his hand, “So this. You’re being mean to me. We’re breaking up.”

Silence.

“No hard feelings?” Akira asks. “I mean, I wouldn’t want to lose my favorite customer.”

“Shouldn’t I be asking you not to have hard feelings since technically I’m breaking up with you?”

“I think it’s more of a mutual break up, really.” This gets a small laugh out of Goro, and his chest twists. This is bad. He shouldn’t _actually_ feel emotional about this. It only dawns on him now that Akira had just called him his favorite customer. Now’s probably not the time to ask, and it probably isn’t appropriate, but

“I’m your favorite customer?” he asks. Akira laughs now, and raises a hand behind his head.

“Well, duh,” he shrugs. “I mean, not to ruin the sentiment but, you don’t have much competition.”

“Oh.”

“Even if I had plenty of customers, you’d probably still be my favorite though,” Akira interjects, and Goro’s fighting a smile on his face again. How is the fake break-up the part of the plan they’re the worst at?

“Would you be willing to continue spending time with your favorite customer outside of work?” Once asked it seems almost childish. They’re not children on the playground, he shouldn’t have to seek confirmation that they can spend time together yet...it’s been a while since Goro had anyone he was close to. In actuality, this is probably one of the first time he’s let someone get past ‘acquaintance’ level. He doesn’t want _that_ to end. Akira’s not answering immediately, and Goro is ready to say something else, to avert the awkwardness, to avoid embarrassment.

“As friends or as...uh, a real date?”

Goro’s caught off guard. His jaw might have dropped a little bit.

“Was that too weird to ask?” Akira laughs sheepishly, and this might be the first time Goro has seen him lacking confidence. It’s...not unwelcome, to know they’re both feeling somewhat unsure of everything.

“No!” he answers, maybe a little too firmly, and then, puts a hand to his forehead. “I meant…” Does the holiday season just make people more sentimental? He meets Akira’s eyes. Everything had only been pretend but, enjoying their time together...that had been real. “I had, a lot of fun this past week, and at the party so…”

“So…” Akira rocks back on his feet a bit, and then puts on a small smile, “We should try dating for real?”

“I think...I think I’d like that.”

-Mission Success-

Akira’s friends like to throw parties. This is evident given the sheer increase in parties Goro begins attending as Akira’s plus one (and eventually has to accept that he is as fully a part of the group as Akira is, that everyone isn’t just Akira’s friends - they’re his too now). Not such a bad thing.

Currently there is no party - it’s just a lazy Sunday. Another new thing he’s had to get accustomed to since he and Akira started dating, for real. They’re also not so bad. Not when it means they’re sprawled in bed together, Morgana napping at their feet.

“You know, back when we were fake dating…” Akira’s fingers are pleasantly playing with Goro’s hair, and all Goro does is make a sound of acknowledgement. “I was secretly hoping from the beginning we’d end up actually dating.”

“... _what_?”

Akira laughs, the sound reverberates through Goro, and it’s so warm.

“It just seemed so lucky. The customer who I loved talking to, who I had _maybe_ started to have a crush on, asking me to pretend to be his boyfriend. How couldn’t I agree to that?”

“Are you serious?” Goro asks, tilting his head enough to look at Akira, but really, it’s a little flattering to hear this.

“Completely,” Akira replies. He turns his head to look at Goro. “It seemed…”

“Too good to be true?” Goro finishes for him and Akira brings their foreheads together.

“Unconventionally so.” They stay like that for a while, it’s relaxing enough that Goro is almost drifting into a nap. “I’m pretty happy we fake dated so well we started dating for real.”

Goro laughs.

“Yeah, me too.”

**Author's Note:**

> This got longer than I planned it to be, but I just hope y'all enjoy it and have great holidays !! ♡♡♡♡  
> 


End file.
